As the title says. The Australian hillclimb championship will be run at Newcastle MG Car Clubs new hillclimb circuit @ Ringwood Park, Italia Rd Raymond Terrace.
This is the 1st time in over 40 years the Australian Champ will be held at Newcastle and the 1st time in donkeys years its not being run at Bathurst. Change is a good thing and the new facilities at Ringwood are top notch. New quality track, spectator areas and soon to be sealed pit area with garage/bays.
Colin, GT, Greg and myself have already entered. Heath is also going to run if not all ready entered. Thats 5 beetles in the 1 class. TOPS! There are 3 other drivers aleady entered in the imp pro u2l class so its going to be a real hard tussell btwn a few drivers for a spot on the podium. Who else wants to have a run?
Apart from us in our humble beetles there are a few big $$$$$$$ machines running and the trip alone is well worth it just to watch these open wheelers go around the track.
Hope to see you there
colin 路
Looking forward to racing against all my VW mates, maybe we should have our own class?.
GT and I will be camping as usual.馃憤
Cheers Col
bat69 路
With over 6 weeks to go before this event gets under way and there is already 60 entries. 20 cars entered in improved production, 5 of which are Beetles. With over a month before entries close this event is going ro be jammed packed.
colin 路
I,m happy to report that Heath Campbell is a confirmed starter for the Aussie titles.
I spoke to him last night and he enjoyed a suscesfull hit out at the Ringwood track yesterday and is looking forward to racing.
That makes 4 confirmed Beetles racing. 馃憤
Cheers Col
bat69 路
There is 5 now. Glen, Greg, Col, Heath and myself. Anyone else interested? Will make for a good photo.
Entries have closed and 111 people will be driving ther respective cars around Ringwood Park trying to pick up the title as Australians best. There are 15 entries in the 1601-2000cc Imp Pro class, including 5 Beetles. Of those 15 drivers there are several former State and Australian Champions. Competition is going to be fierce. Ive finally bought some new tyres and been playing on the dyno so I will be trying my best. Good luck in advance to all the other VW drivers, who btw happen to all be good mates. See you there. As previously said. This event is an excellent one to get amongst the action so if your in the Newcastle area or want a day out. Head on up and pop in to say hi.
bat69 路
Glen Torrens and I took our respective Beetles out to Ringwood yesterday to compete in Round 4 of the MGCC Tar Series. We used the event as a practice for the Oz titles next week. Gt and I both drove away very happy with our performance on the day and most encouraged by our results leading into the Oz titles next wk.
GT was on fire and I would have to say, driving the best I have seen him drive for a while. He managed to sort a few handling issues out with his Beetle the past couple of weeks and after finally settling in, managed to beat his previous best time by over 1.5 seconds. Most excitingly GT was .7 under the existing record set by our good mate Col Maymen.
I too have been busy trying/testing/dynoing a few things over the past month and have also seen some improvements. Most notably in my midrange power. I bolted on some different rubber and hit the track. I manged to go over 2 seconds quicker (700 odd mtr track) over the current hillclimb course then my last outing 4 weeks ago and also shaved 1.3 sec off Cols class record. Sorry dude! (Not... lol). It would have been slightly quickwr but apparently I touched (sorry, hit) a cone so I got a 5 sec penalty. Anyway. Some encouraging results.
cnfabo 路
bat69 wrote:Glen Torrens and I took our respective Beetles out to Ringwood yesterday to compete in Round 4 of the MGCC Tar Series. We used the event as a practice for the Oz titles next week. Gt and I both drove away very happy with our performance on the day and most encouraged by our results leading into the Oz titles next wk.
GT was on fire and I would have to say, driving the best I have seen him drive for a while. He managed to sort a few handling issues out with his Beetle the past couple of weeks and after finally settling in, managed to beat his previous best time by over 1.5 seconds. Most excitingly GT was .7 under the existing record set by our good mate Col Maymen.
Good work nathan,what times did you guys get?? And what did you think of the AO50's..any video..
I'm sure col will be back to get that class record off you馃檪...
I too have been busy trying/testing/dynoing a few things over the past month and have also seen some improvements. Most notably in my midrange power. I bolted on some different rubber and hit the track. I manged to go over 2 seconds quicker (700 add mtr track) over the current hillclimb course then my last outing 4 weeks ago and also shaved 1.3 sec off Cols class record. Sorry dude! (Not... lol). It would have been slightly quickwr but apparently I touched (sorry, hit) a cone so I got a 5 sec penalty. Anyway. Some encouraging results.
bat69 路
No vids. Prob why I drove good. Noone watching.. lol
GT did a 42.08 and I got down to a 41.40 but I had a 5 sec penalty for hitting a cone so my FTD was 41.5. My hypothetical time (fastest split times added together) was a 41.37. I think Cols old record was 42.78.
The yokys are pretty good. Still undecided if they are any better then the dunlops I have previously run.
colin 路
Okay,
i spent last weekend preping the car, which included giving it a full detail inside and out. I synced the carbs up and adjusted the full throttle position.
This morning i started the car (hash,t been run for approx 4 months) she fired and ran spot on.
Really looking forward to racing with my mates, i can,t ever remember having all 5 of us racing our VW,s at the same event.
If you come for a look on Saturday or Sunday be sure to say hello.
Cheers Col
bat69 路
Its been a few years.I think the last time we raced together was at Buladelah Sep 2005. You then spent the next few years building a new bug then I followed the years after that. Greg was running with us then. Heath and GT hadnt starting running their respective Bugs at that time. This Aus title is like it was a few years back when you had the likes of Durie/Cookie, Heath/Christine, Me & the Old man, Craig, Greg and yourself regularly turning up at state hillclimb events. You can add Old Tom and Marty, Troy and Christines brother to that list for the local stuff. Maybe we could start our own "Beetle Cup/trophy" class at this years Oz titles considering half the class are Bugs.. lol
BTW, if anyone is free mid week, practice is running on Thursday (30th) amd Friday (31st) if anyone is keen to watch some weekday action.
cnfabo 路
It sounds like you guys are going to have fun..good luck to everyone and give those water cooler cars a thrashing...YEHAAAA!!!!!!
bat69 路
With the Aus Hillclimb champs set to get under way on Thurs for unoffical practice, fellow competitor Steve Brydie got busy promoting the U2L Imp Pro class. The largest class at this years title. Here are the class cars and drivers.
OMG, what a fantastic week of motorsport. I have never had competition as fierce or as close. 11 drivers finally made the grid in the Imp Pro class. This class was the biggest of the Australian titles, and I would have to say the most competitive with the top 6 drivers in the class all within .4 of a second. Now thats close. I said before this event started if I ended up finishing 3rd I would be stoked with the quality of the field.
Congrates everyone who took part. Everyone is such a great bunch of blokes (and girls), not just the VW dudes either. On Sat after a 41deg day nearly all of the class ended up at Brydies (Datto driver) house sitting in his pool drinking beers.
The Beetles did proud. Ash Birks in his giant killing Gemini won this years Oz title by the smallest of margins. 0.03 seconds in fact. Myself, Gt, Col, Heath & Greg chased hard. I was trying my dame hardest to beat the current and past Oz Champ, falling short by the smallest of margins. GT and Col drove like demons. GT and Colin's drive was the best I have ever seen them drive. In fact if Colin and I had managed to hold every sector of the track together (adding our fastest split times over Sundays racing) we would have beaten the Gemini by nearly .1 and finished equal 1st. Oh well thats racing.
The end times were:
Ash birks 40.97. Me 41.00. GT 41.19. Col 41.20 , Gary Pitt (Escort) 41.34 & Heath 41.38. I would have to say 2nd was the best 2nd I have ever won and more rewarding then any of the class wins I have got in the past.
I have a heap of footage which I will update in due course. Plus the VW's were so impressive Race Magazine will be writing an article about the Beetle in the near future.
dangerous 路
Well done!!
cnfabo 路
Awesome efforts everyone....can't wait too see the article and footage...
Fabo..
vassy66T1 路
That sounds like an excellent weekend of racing.
Congratulations to all of the VW lads for such a proud showing.
HappyDaze 路
Great effort !!! That's close competition, if ever I've seen it - and I would like to have seen it. 馃憤
I know the feeling of the 'mateship', with the 'Hillclimb Mob'....it was the same years ago, with guys such as Des Wall, Alf & Harry Bargwanna, and Colin's dad, Brian Mayman [we called him 'Blue']. Happy Days.馃槒
colin 路
Straight up, no question, the best weekend of racing i have ever experienced.
11 cars in our class and bar 1 (a Suzuki driver who never uttered a single word to anyone) 10 mates racing hard and loving helping and encouraging each other to go faster.
We all shared tyre pressure ideas and what we thought would improve grip and drive, Nathan had a small brake issue, we all pitched in helped sort out his problem.
Steve Brydie and Warwick in the Datto,s were our comedy duo, we laughed and took the piss out of each other all day.
A few personal highlights in a weekend of 1 huge highlight,
At the start line it,s a raised pad and after you leave the line the track dips down kinda like a causeway, Greg Ward left the line and i swear his car carried the front wheels over the large dip in the road, just awesome power.
Watching Nathan racing, in particular the last sector, from lovers leap to the finish line. His speed and dead set commitment through this fast scary section was inspiring.
The look on GT,s face when he realised he had secured 3rd places with his 41.19 time, shock, joy, and shear elation.
But the best part, the great blokes i raced with, Nathan, Glen, Heath, Greg, Steve, Warwick, Ashley, Steve S, and Greg P. Thankyou, the best racing weekend ever.
Cheers Col
PS photo,s vids, and more storys soon.
cnfabo 路
colin wrote:Straight up, no question, the best weekend of racing i have ever experienced.
11 cars in our class and bar 1 (a Suzuki driver who never uttered a single word to anyone) 10 mates racing hard and loving helping and encouraging each other to go faster.
We all shared tyre pressure ideas and what we thought would improve grip and drive, Nathan had a small brake issue, we all pitched in helped sort out his problem.
Steve Brydie and Warwick in the Datto,s were our comedy duo, we laughed and took the piss out of each other all day.
A few personal highlights in a weekend of 1 huge highlight,
At the start line it,s a raised pad and after you leave the line the track dips down kinda like a causeway, Greg Ward left the line and i swear his car carried the front wheels over the large dip in the road, just awesome power.
Watching Nathan racing, in particular the last sector, from lovers leap to the finish line. His speed and dead set commitment through this fast scary section was inspiring.
The look on GT,s face when he realised he had secured 3rd places with his 41.19 time, shock, joy, and shear elation.
But the best part, the great blokes i raced with, Nathan, Glen, Heath, Greg, Steve, Warwick, Ashley, Steve S, and Greg P. Thankyou, the best racing weekend ever.
Ah man I'm so jealous of you guys getting to share that thrashing vw passion..so stoked for you guys and looking forward to next issue of race magazine!!!;
Cheers Col
PS photo,s vids, and more storys soon.
colin 路
A few pics of weekend
Cheers Col
colin 路
GT
colin 路
Heath
colin 路
Nathan showing off
colin 路
Greg
colin 路
A cool poster Steve Brydie designed
colin 路
Anyone for a quick lap?
colin 路
The Podium
cnfabo 路
Great shots guys.can't help but laugh at glens chuffed face,lol.can't believe how close everyone was.
I notice Greg's put zanellos old guards back on,i think they look better then the other ones he was running..
Col,did you end up putting those superpro heads on??
Fabo...
PAZZAN 路
馃憤馃憤馃憤
beetleboyjeff 路
I tried to work it so I could get there to see some of it, but I couldn't swing it.
I am pleased you had a great weekend, and congratulations on the great result.
colin 路
cnfabo wrote:Great shots guys.can't help but laugh at glens chuffed face,lol.can't believe how close everyone was.
I notice Greg's put zanellos old guards back on,i think they look better then the other ones he was running..
Col,did you end up putting those superpro heads on??
Fabo...
No Chris, heads, rods etc are all in the next engine upgrade 馃樀
Cheers Col
colin 路
Above is incar footage of run 6, enjoy
Cheers Col
cnfabo 路
Love watching your in car col..
colin 路
Here is a very well put together 6min vid on the event, kindly put together by Chris Seam.
Cheers Col
colin 路
The above vid is my fastest run of the weekend.
By now the times were tumbling and I asked my little screamer for a bit more.
Out came the 7700 rpm pill and in went the 8000rpm pill, she loved it!.
Cheers Col
bat69 路
A couple of extra photos of my bug.
cnfabo 路
Sick photos Nathan!!!!!!
bat69 路
Well after nearly a month I finally managed to upload some of my footage from the Australian Hillclimb Championship.
Enjoy.
Hoefully I will have a couple more loaded up in the next few days. Its taking for ever.
HappyDaze 路
1964 Australian Hillclimb Championships....a bloke called Mayman gets a mention here, too :-
bat69 路
I love reading some old school motorsport articles lile that. Man some legends of Australian motorsport mentioned there. Thanks.
fastnuf 路
I believe Ivan Tighe passed away a few days ago at the age of 83. RIP
HappyDaze 路
That's correct. Ivan Tighe certainly was/is a legend.
I was there that day in '64, when Brian Mayman [Colin's dad] and Tommy Edwards battled it out in their FJ Holdens....spectacular. 馃憤馃憤
Did anyone notice that there were 4000 spectators there ? Silverdale always drew big crowds, despite the dreadful road in.
bat69 路
If only hillclimbs still draw crowds like that. Im saying that KEP has a 1000 or so who rock up and watch. I would have to say spectators at events have started to rise over the last couple of years as too has interest in local media to report on these events. Hopefully with new tracks in the planning or being built at Ringwood, Central Coast, Ludenham & Wagga, interests will start to rise to the point where you start seeing numbers like that turning up at some events. One could only hope.
colin 路
HappyDaze wrote:1964 Australian Hillclimb Championships....a bloke called Mayman gets a mention here, too :-
This old bloke Mayman, maybe some distant relation of Dads? I,ll ask him.馃槀馃槀馃槀
Cheers Col
vassy66T1 路
A few nice slides in amongst that run
bat69 wrote:Well after nearly a month I finally managed to upload some of my footage from the Australian Hillclimb Championship.
Enjoy.
Hoefully I will have a couple more loaded up in the next few days. Its taking for ever.
ACE76 路
Interesting old article (thanks Greg).
I worked Mr. Sowerby for several years - he is the only person I knew who owned a Buckle coupe (bought new); spoke to him this year. (Didn't realise till now he was also a hill-climber.) Also Mr. Davey-Milne was a friend of my father's, have met him many times across the decades; still alive as far as I know but must be getting on...
Paul England was on one or more honour-boards in the LCCA lounge (S. Melbourne) -- holding the track record in some earlier years at Lakeland Hilllclimb (now forgotten, but was my favorite track) I think, in a twin-engined VW special (are there any photos of it?). And Ted Procter presumably was the builder of the Proctor cars (lived in Ringwood?).